Kindergarten
Philosophy
In our kindergarten, we strongly believe that every child is innately motivated to learn, and we strive to create curriculum that is meaningful and appealing to students. As a result, all the lessons are based on our students’ interests and learning needs. We know the importance of peer interactions, so we encourage students to learn from and with each other. We also support the children’s learning by providing scaffolding, aiming to help every child grow in all the developmental areas. We are equally dedicated to pursuing academic rigor and language growth to help prepare kindergarten students for Grade 1.
Developing the Whole Child
We aim to equip our students with the following skills in HCAS Pre-K:
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Socio-emotional skills
Researchers have indicated that prosocial behaviors and emotional stability positively correlate to students’ future academic achievement. As kindergarten is the very first environment where young children acquire social skills, children in HCAS Pre-K will spend most of their time learning and practicing social behaviors through playing and structured learning. -
Life skills
Teaching children taking responsibility of their lives is an important aspect in Early Childhood Education. Therefore, in HCAS Pre-K, teachers expect our students to develop problem-solving skills that are appropriate in the management of their personal affairs. We give students opportunities to learn and practice life skills. -
Cognitive skills
The teachers will help our students develop cognitive skills that are critical in children’s early ages, including executive functions (problem-solving, self-control, reasoning, attentional skills, self-monitoring…etc.) and basic academic concepts.
Kindergarten Schedule Consists of
Circle Time
Projects
Morning Work
Play
Story Class
Specialty Classes
Each class will be carefully planned accordingly to a theme that will be running over the course of 4 to 5 weeks.
Moving Up to Kindergarten (K3)
This is the year that your child becomes ‘Elementary-school-ready’, developing their independence, confidence, resilience and curiosity. Leaving Pre-K behind and moving into K Class can feel like a big step for both children and their parents. Nevertheless, we are here to help making this transition easier by providing support to children and families. We encourage parents and families to work in partnership with us to gain the best outcomes for your child in this important developmental year.
The children will still be learning through play and spontaneous exploring. Our typical day in K would be more structured that it was in Pre-K as children will do more table work and sit for longer lessons. However, children will still be learning in a variety of ways: outdoor activities, group discussions, and play.
Developing basic academic skills
Language and literacy
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Phonics
Phonics is the fundamental component of literacy for emergent readers. Children will start to expand on their knowledge of phonics and will definitely surprise you with just how quickly they develop their reading. They will do 40 minutes of phonics reading three times a week. These are fun sessions, which involve interactive games and tasks. They will learn spelling rules as well as how to blend and segment words using their phonemic awareness. They will start writing with inventive spelling by phonetically sounding out words. -
Topics and stories
Children will be learning through themes this year, which makes lessons relevant and exciting. They will learn English through all sorts of wonderful activities and through dramatic play to build knowledge with hands-on materials. We use many themes from western culture but also incorporate and celebrate Taiwanese cultural heritage. They will learn to write in sentences and to use exciting language — all while improving their handwriting.
Mathematics
Math lessons this year will be enjoyable, with plenty of hands-on activities. Your child will count with manipulatives and work in groups to explore shapes and patterns. Children will learn numbers over 20 and will learn to use a 100 square to help with their adding and subtracting. Number bonds will also be reinforced. They will learn to count forwards and backwards, in 2s, 5s, 10s, and they will learn about money and clocks. Our math is designed to aid the development of logic and pattern recognition. This helps gain skills in independent thinking.